The Editorial Board of Canthius for #ReadPalestine

Publishers for Palestine is a global solidarity collective of more than 300 publishers who stand for justice, freedom of expression, and the power of the written word in solidarity with the people of Palestine. From November 29th to December 5th, Publishers for Palestine has organized #ReadPalestine week, encouraging the uplifting of Palestinian writers and voices as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues.

As part of #ReadPalestine week, the editorial board at Canthius has shared the Palestinian books and writing we’ve been reading.

Susan Abulhawa, *Against the Loveless World*

I just finished reading Susan Abulhawa’s Against the Loveless World. In this incredibly moving and gripping book, Nahr, a Palestinian woman, sits in solitary confinement reflecting on her life and how she ended up imprisoned. This is a book that sheds light on how deep U.S. imperialism goes. Nahr is born in Kuwait after her mother and grandmother have been forced out of Palestine by Israel. Nahr herself becomes a refugee after the U.S. invades Iraq, and finally, she finds herself back in Palestine. Against the Loveless World demonstrates what Palestinian resistance looks like as Nahr gets involved in fighting and organizing against the Israeli government. This is such an important book to read to understand why Palestinian resistance against an occupying government is necessary. I’ll leave this blurb with a quote from the book:

“Let them think they own the land. I know better. I know the land owns us, her native children.”

—Manahil Bandukwala

Edited by Emily Regan Willis, Jeremy Wildeman, and Michael Bueckert, and Nadia Abu-Zahra, *Advocating for Palestine in Canada*

I’m currently reading Advocating for Palestine in Canada: Histories, Movements, Action (now available for free as an e-book!). It’s a collection of essays from scholars and activists, many of them veterans of the Palestinian solidarity movement. I’ve always felt inadequate when speaking of politics, but this collection provides an incredible introduction to the history of Palestine solidarity activism in Canada and its many players. As a Canadian, it has given me important insight into how the movement has risen, the threats that have tried (and continue) to stifle its progression, and the language to use when discussing Palestine in Canada. I feel more confident in my own activism now because of it.

I’ve also recently discovered the poetry of Hala Alyan and I'm not sure how I've lived so long without it. Her poem, “Revision,” is so beautiful, taut, and devastating. I’m looking forward to reading more of her poetry, as well as her debut novel, Salt Houses, which chronicles three generations of a Palestinian family.

—Rebecca Mangra

My two recommendations are Pay No Heed to the Rockets by Marcello Di Cintio and Salt Houses by Hala Alyan.

—Amy LeBlanc

Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses follows three generations of a Palestinian family and asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again.

Marcello Di Cintio, *Pay No Heed to the Rockets*

On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967.

Marcello Di Cintio first visited Palestine in 1999. Like most outsiders, the Palestinian narrative that he knew had been simplified by a seemingly unending struggle, a near-Sisyphean curse of stories of oppression, exile, and occupation told over and over again.

In Pay No Heed to the Rockets, he reveals a more complex story, the Palestinian experience as seen through the lens of authors, books, and literature. Using the form of a political-literary travelogue, he explores what literature means to modern Palestinians and how Palestinians make sense of the conflict between a rich imaginative life and the daily tedium and violence of survival.

Di Cintio begins his journey on the Allenby Bridge that links Jordan to Palestine. He visits the towns and villages of the West Bank, passes into Jerusalem, and then travels through Israel before crossing into Gaza. En route, he meets with poets, authors, librarians, and booksellers. He begins to see Palestine through their eyes, through their stories.

In the company of literary giants like Mahmoud Darwish and Ghassan Kanafani, and the contemporary authors whom they continue to inspire, Di Cintio travels through the rich cultural and literary heritage of Palestine. It's there that he uncovers a humanity, and a beauty, often unnoticed by news media. At the seventieth anniversary of the Arab-Israeli War, Pay No Heed to the Rockets tells a fresh story about Palestine, one that begins with art rather than war.

Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh, *Squire*

I just finished Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh.

—Samantha Jones

Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It's the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive Squire training program.

It's not how she imagined it, though. Aiza must navigate new friendships, rivalries, and rigorous training under the unyielding General Hende, all while hiding her Ornu background. As the pressure mounts, Aiza realizes that the "greater good" that Bayt-Sajji's military promises might not include her, and that the recruits might be in greater danger than she ever imagined.
Aiza will have to choose, once and for all: loyalty to her heart and heritage, or loyalty to the Empire.

I'd like to recommend the work of Maya Abu Al-Hayyat that I've recently read online at https://poets.org/poet/maya-abu-al-hayyat

—Sneha Madhavan-Reese